If winter is going to insist on bludgeoning us with its icy winds and mid-afternoon nightfall, then it's best to pass the coming Months of Darkness away from the city and on the slopes whenever your schedule/aching limbs will permit it. Though no one except God and your acupuncturist can help with the latter, the NYC Snow Bus will make it easier to access the mountains without having to harass your designated friend-with-a-car. Have you ever lain down in the blackened slush to wrestle chains onto the finicky wheels of your ancient Volkswagen? The bus is easier. Riding a bull on amphetamines is easier. Scaling Mount Vernon while carrying a live chicken is easier.
Fans of the NYC Beach Bus will be delighted to learn that it has a cold weather counterpart, carting you and your bundled friends to the wilds of New Jersey, dumping you at Mountain Creek resort, and collecting what's left of you after a day of shredding (see: rolling) down the face of the mountain to return to the safety of the city. They'll even ply you with free beer when it's over.
The bus departs from four locations around the city—two in Brooklyn, one in Queens and one in Manhattan. Tickets are $35 for the bus only, $67 for a bus and lift ticket package, and $97 for the bus, lift ticket and equipment rental. Mountain Creek is around 60 miles away, and the company employs the same school buses used to ferry beach-goers to the Rockaways, which, if you're tall, can mean a somewhat cramped journey. Then again, what is skiing if not 95 percent soggy, freezing, broken misery in exchange for a few blessed moments of soaring adrenaline?
